By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Vizhinjam port project – the biggest in Kerala and one of the biggest in the country that had been hanging fire for nearly two decades – has finally got the approval of the central government, state Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar said here Wednesday.
The final approval from the shipping ministry came after the ministries of home affairs, defence, environment and external affairs cleared the proposal, the minister told reporters.
The project, to be come up in Vizhinjam near the popular tourist destination of Kovalam, was first mooted by former ports minister M.V. Raghavan in 1990s, but it did not take off at that time.
A consortium comprising Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondapalli Power Pvt Ltd, Malaysia-based Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd and Lanco Infrastructure Ltd, will develop the project in two phases.
“Now we will form a special purpose vehicle in which the state government will have 24 percent stake. The port will come up in 1,088 hectares and 227 families will be rehabilitated,” Vijayakumar said.
The state government will invest Rs.1.6 billion ($35.5 billion) to set up the basic infrastructure like water, electricity, railways tracks and roads.
This is the second time Kerala is trying to clear the deck for the project.During the previous Oommen Chandy government (2004-06), a consortium of two Chinese and a Mumbai firm had been selected through a global tender.
However, the central government in 2006 declined to approve the project on grounds of security as the Chinese companies had business interests in Pakistani ports.
A major advantage of Vizhinjam port will be that with a natural depth of 24 metres – among the deepest in the world – it would not require any dredging. Another advantage is that it lies very close to a busy international shipping route.
Once complete, the port will be able to handle over four million containers annually and would create 5,000 direct and 150,000 indirect jobs.